Upon hearing the slinky swing beat and soulful sneer of "Tore Down," the lead track on singer and guitarist Wanda Jackson's new album, Unfinished Business, you might mistake it for one of her feisty rockabilly hits from the late 1950s. That is to say: it's the real deal.

Known for five decades as the Queen of Rockabilly, the Oklahoma-born Jackson, a 74-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, is still rockin' and croonin' with as much soul and twang as ever.

"Touring certainly has been more challenging over the last few years," she tells Flagpole. "I do about 100 shows a year—but the shows are the easy part. The traveling in between dates [is] what begins to take a toll on you. But I can't complain. I really enjoy performing for the fans. As long as they keep buying my albums and paying their hard-earned money to see me, I'll keep on singing."

Released this fall, Unfinished Business is Jackson's 31st release since her earliest recordings with Hank Thompson's Brazos Valley Boys (for the Decca and Capitol labels in the late 1950s). Jackson launched a series of hits right out of high school, releasing a string of originals and renditions of country, pop and blues standards. She toured with Elvis Presley and others in rock and roll's first generation. A rendition of "Let's Have a Party," an old Presley song, became her first Top-40 single in 1960, establishing Jackson as the first genuine lady rockabilly superstar.

Decades later, her story continues. Produced by singer-songwriter/country music royalty Justin Townes Earle, Unfinished Business came on the heels of a studio partnership with another young, influential musician—Jack White, for the 2011 album The Party Ain't Over. Jackson's longtime publicist Jon Hensley masterminded both pairings, and the back-to-her-roots approaches worked out splendidly.

"Jack White was like a velvet-covered brick," Jackson laughs. "He really pushed me hard in the studio. Justin was the total opposite. He was very laid back and allowed me to do my thing."

As a new traditionalist and a student of early rock, Earle jumped at the opportunity to work with Jackson, whom he had met in Nashville at the House of David recording studio. Fortunately, the two developed a strong chemistry and sense of trust right away.

"We worked really well together," Jackson says. "Justin worked out all of the arrangements on the songs before I came in on the first day. I would sing the song with the band in the studio, which I hadn't done in quite some time… That's the way I used to record back in the early days with Capitol, so that was refreshing to me. I’d sing the song, and afterwards, Justin would ask me if I was happy with this or that. He basically let me be myself and sing the way I wanted to sing it."

On Unfinished Business, Jackson's range and personality—marked by her raspy tone, devilish laugh and occasional hillbilly hiccup—are well intact. The new collection works from a traditional full-band sound, with tried-and-true instrumentation and arrangements. It's a project deeply rooted in tradition.

"This is definitely an album that fans of my earlier material seem to like," she says. "I've always loved country, blues, rock and roll, and gospel. With this album, I think Justin wanted to showcase that. There's a gospel song on the album called 'Two Hands' that's one of my favorites. But, I also cover Woody Guthrie and Bobby Womack. It's a very diverse album."

Most long-running musicians and vocalists make stylistic changes through the years, and their range, inflections, accents and overall delivery seem to evolve or stray into new sounds. As a singer and musician, Jackson has made only a few minor adjustments.

"My voice has changed over the years," she admits. "I was just a kid when I started recording back in the 1950s. But, I've certainly still got that rock and roll growl that I'm known for."

While the title of her new album may imply that she is attempting some sort of comeback, Jackson says it's nothing more than a name that seemed to fit the collection. For Jackson, the business of rock and roll is never finished.

"I've still got a lot of gas left in the tank," she says. "Stephen King wrote the liner notes for the album, and he wrote something about how I wasn't running on fumes like some may expect, but that I actually had a full tank. I thought that was cute. I've still got a lot of ground to cover before I call it quits."